Category - News

By now most all of you have heard the news that Valiant Comics was able to secure funding with their film division, for the purpose of developing their properties to hit the big screen. And I suppose the small screen too? Comic book shows are all the rage on TV right now, for sure. Well, being that my fellow 4LN writer Cameron and I have become big Valiant fans lately, we decided it would be fun to fancast our picks for who should play our favorite characters when the come to life. We reached out to our Valiant super-cool-uncle Steven Boyd (I was gonna say “Valiant godfather”, but that would age him more than would be fair) to see if he’d wanna jump in on the fun. He did! Check out our picks below, and let us know who you’d pick!

Bloodshot

Steve B: Thomas Jane as Bloodshot. He’s the friggin Punisher. He already knows how to act, can handle a gun and take a punch. Somebody give this guy some nanites already.

Cam: Anson Mount – If you are unfamiliar with Anson Mount, go watch AMC’s Hell on Wheels. This guy is gruff, capable of portraying a cold-hearted killer, and has the kind of square jaw, anti-hero attitude you would expect from a nanite-powered killing machine.

X-O Manowar

Steve B: Chris Hemsworth as X-O Manowar (Aric of Dacia). If Chris Evans can be the Human Torch AND Captain America, then Chris Hemsworth can be both Thor and Aric of Dacia. Solid actor, good physique and is versatile enough to play a Visigoth out of time.

Cam: Alexander Skarsgård – X-O Manowar is as Dacian from the 6th century who was captured by aliens, steals their most powerful weapon (a suit of high tech armor capable of destroying pretty much whatever he wants to destroy), and returns to modern day Earth after escaping. The character is a tall, blonde haired warrior of the North. I think Skarsgaard fits that bill perfectly.

Eternal Warrior/ Gilad Anni-Padda

Stephen: I’m going with Charlie Hunnam here. I feel like there’s a wealth of depth to that guy’s acting talents and I don’t think we’ve seen the extent to his abilities. Grow out his hair a little bit and dye it brown… I absolutely think he could be the Eternal Warrior.

Steve B: Ken Watanabe – I thought this guy had the coolest voice in BATMAN BEGINS. I had never seen THE LAST SAMURAI, but when I think of Harada, I think of Ken Watanabe. Very commanding presence and a great actor in general.

Cam: I also pick Ken Watanabe – I literally cannot think of anyone else who could play the ultimate baddy of the Valiant universe. Toyo Harada is one of the most powerful psiots in the world, and hopes to use his power to force the world into peace, even if that means wiping out swaths of people along the on the way. Ken Watanabe is the chosen one for this role.

Stephen: I’m actually just gonna echo Steve on this one. I think Lee would make an excellent Rai. He’s definitely got the martial arts talent, and he can certainly pull of the cold, emotionless warrior persona. Plus, ever since I saw him in “I Saw The Devil”, I’ve felt like he deserves a chance to be the lead in an American film. The dude can certainly carry a film.

Ninjak

Cam: Tom Hardy – Ninjak, aka Colin King, is a British millionaire/billionaire(?) that also happens to be a badass ninja assassin/intelligence agent. A majority of the time his face is obscured by a mask that covers the lower half of his face. Who is a British actor that is good enough at selling emotion with facial expressions that he can wear a mask a majority of the time and still be awesome? Tom Hardy. Although Hardy would have to reduce his bulkiness back to Inception levels, but he has proven he can pretty much add mass and lose it at will.

Stephen: So, my choice for Ninjak is someone most of you have probably seen, but never knew… Scott Adkins. He’s been in films like Bourne Ultimautim, The Expendables 2,and Zero Dark Thirty. He has martial arts training in his background and was even in a movie called Ninja II. So… yeah. The dude could be Ninjak easy.

Ivar Anni-Padda, Timewalker

Steve B: Tom Wisdom as Ivar the Timewalker. My first relative unknown casting for the VALIANT Universe would be Wisdom, who played an ill-fated soldier in 300. He has a super-hero like quality about him and could probably do a great job playing a man out of time. Surround him with a great cast and you’ve got a hit.

Cam: Ewan McGregor – Ivar, the Timewalker, is an immortal time-traveler who is highly intelligent and also a bit of a sarcastic ass. Ewan McGregor could be believable as both an intelligent gentleman and a bit of a jerk in a Sherlockian sort of way. Also, if McGregor grew his hair out he would be a spitting image (I don’t actually know the origin of this phrase) of how Ivar is depicted in his new series.

Shadowman/Jack Boniface

Stephen: I’m going with Wentworth Miller (Prison Break, The Flash) for Shadowman. I feel like he’s got the chops to be the lead and he’s done action before, but I feel like one of the things that makes him stand out the most to me, is that he’s also a writer, with some darker-style work in his repertoire (Stoker, the upcoming psychological-horror-thriller The Disappiontments Room). Not only could he play Shadowman, he could write on the film as well…

Steve B: Taylor Kitsch as Jack Boniface. I thought he got Gambit’s Cajun accent down pretty good in X-MEN ORIGINS WOLVERINE, plus he’s a very mysterious looking dude. And he’s been the lead in an action movie (JOHN CARTER). He’s your Shadowman.

Quantum and Woody

Steve B: Owen Wilson for Woody, and Michael Jai White for Quantum. Michael has a super hero’s physique and I believe could play the straight guy in a comedy duo pretty good after seeing him in BLACK DYNAMITE. Owen Wilson is probably a little old for the role, but his Jethro Tull line from ARMAGEDDON wins him Woody’s role instantly.

Stephen: This was a tough one for me because Quantum & Woody is my favorite Valiant series. After much deliberation, I’ve settled on Beck Bennett (SNL) for Woody and Lance Gross for Quantum. Now I know he doesn’t *quite* have the look, and his sense of humor comes across more dry than sarcastic, but my reasoning for choosing Bennett is simple… Chris Pratt. If Andy Dwyer can become Star-Lord, then Bennett could become Woody.

Lace Gross is someone you probably don’t know, but he was a on a short-lived NBC drama-thriller called Crisis and he’s got the right look for Quantum. He’s not a comedian, and he can be serious, so balancing Bennett’s Woody with Gross’ Quantum would make for an excellent “world’s worst superhero team”.

Archer & Armstrong

Cam: Archer, Logan Lerman – This one took a little longer than the others. Archer is a younger character that is indoctrinated since his birth by an evil organization, but eventually realizes that he has been manipulated and teams up with the immortal hobo, Armstrong, whom he was sent to assassinate. He has the ability to mimic any ability he sees, be it physical or mental, and is in terrific shape. After seeing Lerman in both the Percy Jackson movies (the books were better, but he was good) and Fury, I think he has terrific range to play both the indoctrinated, hyper-religious assassin and the confused, burgeoning superhero.

For Armstrong, John Goodman – Armstrong is an affable, immortal hobo with a penchant for good drink and good poetry. During his long, long life he has rolled with the likes of Michelangelo and Da Vinci, but more recently has teamed up with Archer to form a buddy-cop comedy of a super-duo. I’ll admit, Goodman might be a tad old to play Armstrong, but he has the look, the humor, and the girth. He would be absolutely perfect.

Stephen: I like Dave Franco for Archer. Based on his performance in Unfinished Business, I definitely think he could capture the sheltered, naive aspect of Archer’s personality, and I think if given the chance he could hold his own in some action sequences.

I’m gonna just tag on to Cam’s choice for Armstrong here, and say John Goodman would be great, but to offer my own reasoning, I choose him because of his performance in Kevin Smith’s Red State. I remember seeing that for the first time and thinking, “When did John Goodman (kind of) get in shape and become a badass?”

Got some of your own suggestions for who should star in the Valiant Comics movies? Let us know in the comments!

As you know, everyone’s favorite post-apocalyptic hero Mad Max will be returning to the screen this May with the fourth installment in the franchise. Originally released in 1979, Mad Max took the globe by storm and spun into a crazy world of chaos and dessert inhalation. In the following years, Mad Max 2 (AKA Road Warrior) was released in 1982, and my personal “favorite” (This is for you Nate), Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome came out as the final installment in 1985. A series that I love so much, has never been in theaters during my life time, and that makes me sad, but that will change in this year! I’ll be honest, I’m honestly not sure whether I’m more excited for Mad Max: Fury Road or Avengers 2: Age of Ultron…

With the hype of the new Mad Max film, last year at E3 we saw a trailer for the Mad Max game, but that’s not all the build up for the 2015 summer film… It was announced a couple days ago that the Mad Max series would be getting a four part comic book prequel following the main characters that will star in Fury Road. The comic is set for release on DC’s Vertigo Comics, and will hit shelves in May, along with the movie. The first issue, MAD MAX: FURY ROAD: NUX & IMMORTAN JOE #1 will be written by the creator of the franchise, George Miller, along with Nico Lathouris and Mark Sexton. The art will be by Riccardo Burchielli and Leonardo Fernandez. This issue will be considered a one-shot, 4o pages long, and comes with the sticker price of $4.99. Below you will find the cover for Nux & Immortan Joe.

Following this issue we’ll see a one shot called Furiosa, which focuses on Charlize Theron’s character, and a month after that we will get two issues following Mad Max, who will be played by Tom Hardy in the new movie. So get ready to visit a comic book post-apocalyptic world in the next few months!

For any fan of the trilogy, these issues will be a must have, and be a big help in understanding the events that will lead up to deadly outcomes in Mad Max: Fury Road! Stay tuned to 4LN for more updates and reviews of the Mad Max comics!

On Tuesday it was announced that Nashville, along with Atlanta, Raleigh-Durham, and Charlotte, NC, will be getting Google Fiber. Being that we here at 4LN are based right here in the Nashville-area, this is exciting news for us.

There is still a lot of work to be done before Nashvillians can reap the benefits though. Kevin Lo, a Google Executive said, “We’re going to start planning the network in very great detail. We are going to lay enough fiber in this area to go to Canada and back, and every mile of that needs to be planned out.”

But when it’s here customers customers can expect internet speeds up to 100 times that of basic broadband according to Google. That’s really fast, as in downloads that took hours could take mere seconds with Fiber. And more importantly, the many hospitals around the area will be able to transmit medical data way faster than before.

Although there is no official price yet, other cities have three levels of service. Customers can access basic broadband for free for seven years, but customers who want the fastest speeds pay around $70 a month.

Google said there is no official pricing yet. In other cities, there are three levels of service. Basic broadband service is free for seven years. Customers who want the fastest gigabit service pay $70 a month. There is also a gigabit internet and TV pairing that might entice some customers to drop Comcast/Direct TV all together.

Neil deGrasse Tyson, America’s favorite astrophysicist/author/former wrestler/meme, is slated to host a weekly show on National Geographic Channel starting in April. The show will be filmed in front of a live studio audience at the Hayden Planetarium, where Tyson serves as director.

At the Winter TV Press Tour 2015, NDT said that the show is “a mixture of comedy, science and pop culture. I’m the host, yet I’m the scientist! And my guests are hardly ever scientists. Our goal is to hew them from pop culture.” Each show will also feature a one-minute rant by America’s other favorite scientist, Bill Nye the Science Guy.

This isn’t Tyson’s first foray into the world of television though. He hosted the modern version of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, which aired last year and has been a frequent guest on The Colbert Report and The Daily Show, as well as appearing on several other television shows.

Although there is not a lot of specifics yet, the show is said to be based on NDT’s podcast, StarTalk and will have a stellar lineup of guests. There is also rumors circulating that Cosmos might be up for a second season.

All in all, it’s shaping up to be a mighty fine year for Mr. Tyson. Good luck in your on-screen endeavors.

Someone once told me that no one is in the comic book business to make money.

Remember that, because I’m going to come back to it.

I can’t recall a time when I didn’t have a comic book within 10 feet of me. I wrote in them with markers. I took them to school in my backpack. I met Stan Lee when I was 12. My two children are named from comic book super heroes. For the last 7 years, I’ve helped manage one of the country’s largest online comic book collecting websites (ComicCollectorLive.com) and I’ve attended comic conventions from San Diego to New York City to Toronto as attendee, exhibitor and professional. With a little research, you fill find my name in both the letter columns and credits of your favorite comic books. But there’s many of you out there who will never meet me or know who I am. So allow me to introduce myself:

I’m the reason you and your children are wearing SPIDER-MAN t-shirts, SUPERMAN Converses and watching MARVEL movies on Netflix.

I am the comic book retailer.

Or at least I was.

In the middle of the entire print vs digital debate which has raged through the comic industry for several years, our website ComicCollectorLive.com, which offers collecting software, manages comic book sales online and has tens of thousands of members, took a strange direction. While many sellers took all their sales online, went digital and closed up shop, we took our website property and leveraged a brick and mortar store to compliment our website 14 months ago.

It was a bold move. ComicCollectorLive.com has been around for years and has enjoyed a modicum of success within the industry. Oh sure, we had a selection of exclusive variants that we sold at conventions or gave away to our members as gifts if they popped in for the last few years, but this was going to be a stretch. The idea was to help promote and drive customers to the website locally while at the same time giving our membership that stopped by every now and then just to say hi a place to drop a few bucks and all the while, we honored the industry we love.

And so it was that Comic Collector Live: The Store was born. We secured an account with Diamond Distribution and opened just before HALLOWEEN COMICFEST 2013 to slow to average sales, but with the long term goal of making something really unique that comic collectors and their kids can enjoy for years to come.

Now remember, all this time, someone once told me that no one is in the comic book business to make money.

I remember the next 6 months was a real struggle. I busted my ass to ensure that the shop was clean and well-stocked. I worked extra hours on the weekend. I budgeted and managed financial expectations for the store down to the last dime. I created a kids’ section of the shop that kids and parents enjoyed. If any of you reading this ever attended a DIAMOND RETAILER SUMMIT, I was the guy in the meeting room taking feverish notes on how to run a successful comic book store. I worked more within the community to promote the store, working with school libraries and preschools. If the word “comic book” was spoken in this city, I wanted “Comic Collector Live” to be spoken in the same sentence with it. And as days turned into weeks and weeks into months, I watched most of the money going directly back into the store. And I often wondered if it was all worth it.

Then around April 2014 (specifically FREE COMIC BOOK DAY), something wonderful happened.

We started to get more customers. A lot of them. Maybe it was the guy who just came in every couple months to see if we had anything new. Maybe it was the mom who drove by with kids pointing fingers asking if they could see what was in the building with the HULK standee in the window. Maybe it was the guys with the comic book news website that saw that we loved comics as much as they do (A wink and a nod to 4LN). But for whatever reason, these people become regulars and signing up to get all their comics through us. It wasn’t a home run by any stretch….more like a bunt to fake a base hit to first….but it was enough to give me hope that this store might actually stick it out long enough to survive the first year. By summer 2014, I was convinced that the shop was going to be around for a while and maybe, just maybe be able to (“GASP!”) start putting money in savings. While still relatively small in number, our customer base is and was loyal. I enjoyed many awesome moments, not the least of which was joining our local community Literacy Council.

Jacob Rougemont

Now keep in mind that all this time, there’s a website with tens of thousands of members that also needs love and attention sitting off to the side. It had been years…literally years…since the site has been updated and, despite all our best intentions and hopes, it hasn’t been done.

And for those of you who have ever seen STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN, you know what’s more important than the needs of the few.

The good news is that ComicCollectorLive.com is on the fast track to a much needed facelift and will continue to help bring buyers and sellers together. Technology has changed A LOT in the last 7 years and the website will be leaps and bounds better than what it is. But in order to give the website property the attention it needs, Comic Collector Live: The Store has to go and its’ last day of business will be January 31st, 2015.

And it’s literally as simply as that.

It’s a bittersweet moment. Probably not unlike the feeling when LEGO realized that while, yes, a clothing line is awesome, you stick with what you do best and that’s building bricks. And that’s my conundrum. In doing my job these last 7 years, it comes at the cost of doing something I’m also good at….selling comics…even though technically, I’m still doing it by helping manage this incredible website with incredible members and incredible potential.

To my good friends at 4LN, who have been supporters of CCL: THE STORE: I’m not really going anywhere and we’ll continue to see each other, albeit under different circumstances. I’ll simply give you guys this piece of advice: do what you love and you’ll always be successful. I appreciate the dedication and attention you’ve given our little shop and it’s been a pleasure getting to know you and your families. You each have something to contribute and are the closest thing to THE AVENGERS I’ll ever meet in real life. I look forward to your continued friendship.

To the customers, friends and friends I’ve come to call family these last 16 months in our shop: I want to personally thank you for allowing me to serve you and keep your passion for this business alive. We must have made an impact in your lives due to the large number of well-wishes and supportive words (and even invites to dinner) I’ve received in the last 72 hours. Today, I find that 4LN has written a eulogy column mourning the death of our brick and mortar store and a customer today informed me that because of the store, we’ve inspired her to write her own comic book.

Wow.

To say I’m moved by these gestures would be an incredible understatement. Believe me: it would be a lot easier if I could tell you that our little shop was closing because it failed financially.

But it isn’t.

It’s closing because we have an obligation and a love for this industry that goes beyond what we were currently doing. And strangely enough, it goes deeper than that for me. Remember when I told you that someone once told me that no one is in the comic book business to make money? I used to think this was just something that comic professionals tell each other in order to show they love comics more than you do. But then I realized something. They were absolutely right. If I make money doing what I love, all the better, but in the end I honestly want to be the reason EVERYONE loves comics. You, your kids and your kids’ kids.

So in order to do that, I have to look beyond what I have and forward to what Comic Collector Live can become and achieve.

And the irony is: if I ever do make money in this business, I’ll probably just spend it on more comics.

*Steve Boyd is Vice President of the Board of Directors for Goloco Media Group, Inc’s E-Commerce Division, a member of the Board of Directors for the Literacy Council of Middle Tennessee, Manager of Comic Collector Live: The Store, co-creator of WalkingTheWalkingDead.com, co-host of the WTWD podcast and has most recently contributed to 2 projects for Marvel Comics. He also knows every word to the “McDonald’s Menu Song”. While his office will remain at the same location in Hendersonville Tennessee, the storefront closes on January 31st.

Good news Stephen King fans, it looks like the upcoming theatrical adaptation of King’s post-apocalyptic horror-drama (horro-rama…?), The Stand, is finally happening and will take place over four films.

On a recent podcast with Kevin Smith, The Stand’s writer/director, Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars) stated that the film was originally going to be a three-hour, stand-alone film, but Warner Brother’s loved the script and wanted more. If you’ve read The Stand, you know that the book is enormous (like, if-it-fell-off-the-shelf-it-could-kill-you enormous), so it seems like a wise decision to tell the story over multiple films to give the source material justice. Another positive sign for King fans is that Boone wants this adaptation to be rated “R,” like almost all material should be when based off the work of the King of Horror.

During the podcast Boone said, “So what happened is the script gets finished, I write it in like five months, everybody loves it, King loves it, $87 million is what it was budgeted at, really expensive for a horror drama that doesn’t have set pieces… So I think we are going to do like four movies. I can’t tell you anything about how we’re going to do them, or what’s going to be in which movie. I’ll just say we are going to do four movies, and we’re going to do The Stand at the highest level you can do it at, with a cast that’s going to blow people’s minds.”

Supposedly the goal is to start filming early next year, so expect to hear more and more about this ambitious project in the coming months.

After a lengthy hiatus, humans have turned their attention back to the Moon, but this time with a modern twist – Kickstarter. That’s right, the Brits are attempting to fund a mission to the Moon the same way that guy you know funded his mediocre EP.

Lunar Mission One, the terrific name for the British lead mission, plans on raising £500 million via public donations in order to land a robotic probe on the Moon. The probe would explore the South Pole of the Moon to determine if a human base could be set up in the future.

I assume it looks like this

Like most Kickstarter campaigns, Lunar Mission One is providing incentives to those who donate to their cause. David Iron, the project lead, said that “Anyone in the world will be able to get involved for as little as just a few pounds. Lunar Mission One will make a huge contribution to our understanding of the origins of our planet and the Moon.” Those who donate will be able to have everything from text and photos to DNA sent to the Moon. For a few pounds you can send a text message to the moon, for a little more you can send a compressed photo. A short video will be about £200, while a strand of your hair (for DNA purposes) will only set you back about £50 (the downside to sending DNA is that it will inevitably be used by the Alien overlords when they discover Lunar Mission One, which will also contain a digital archive of human history and science).

The first phase of the four year fundraising campaign hopes to raise £600,000 via Kickstarter over the next few weeks in order to fund the initial phase of the project.

With most governments cutting space exploration funds, Kickstarter might just set a new and exciting course for discovering the Final Frontier, while also inspiring a new generation of youngsters to look to the stars. Lunar Mission One plans for the lander to reach the Moon’s South Pole by 2024.

If you’re interested in knowing more about the project, you can check out the Kickstarter campaign by clicking the link below.

“The Geek Media Expo (“GMX”) is an annual exposition and social conference relating primarily to the popular arts, sciences, technology, engineering, mathematics, and relevant cultural/lifestyle themes, presented as an educational and multi-media entertainment showcase”.

Geek Media Expo is an annual convention that is perfect for both veterans of conventions and for the newest of new people. GMX was a great thing for the Nashville community to come together at and embrace each others different fandoms. I saw fans of pretty much every aspect of the nerdy community from G.I. Joe cosplay to people dressed up like their favorite Jedi’s. From the moment we pulled into the parking lot of the Franklin/Cool Springs Conference Center I knew we had reached out destination. In the parking lot, almost every car we saw had something related to being a nerd on their windows. Everywhere I looked there were Zelda bumper stickers, stick figure superhero families and my personal favorite, a 12-2 KDR tally marked on the side of a van, I really wish I had gotten to see who drove that I would really have loved to know the story behind that.

GMX’s logo was awesome. I really love it.

When we walked into the hotel/conference center I was overwhelmed with what I was seeing. Almost everyone I saw was in some sort of cosplay outfit. When we through the doors, and looked to our left, there was an entire group in Guardians of The Galaxy cosplay, including a Groot on stilts and a Rocket Raccoon on his shoulders. Unfortunately, I did not get many pictures because I am/was not sure the correct way to go about asking for permission, I’m unfortunately a pretty shy person. But I promise you, it was some of the best Groot cosplay I have seen. Walking though the rest of the convention we saw a really awesome Iron Man cosplayer, and not being an Iron Man fan, I still thought this guy looked pretty bad ass (I think he had the best costume of the convention). While walking around the convention we got to really see how happy and comfortable in their skin everyone was. There was zero judgement and not a single person looked to be embarrassed or anything of that sort. I happened to see a couple Doctors from Dr. Who standing in front of a giant Tardis and it made me really wish I knew what the hell was going on. Listening to them talk was like hearing another language. I sadly have never seen a single episode of Dr. Who (I know, I’m sorry!). But, seeing the passion of these Whovians really made me want to get into the show.

Dude’s Iron Man costume was on point. Awesome.

I think one of the coolest things that I saw while at GMX was actually an improve group that were quoting lines from movies but would replace one key word with “Mordor,” and the audience had to fill in the blank. A few of the questions were seriously a bit on the tricky side. With quotes from Guardians of The Galaxy to Star Wars: A New Hope, pretty much every thing in the geek film culture was covered. It was really entertaining and the dynamics between the improve group that was hosting the game was honestly pretty hilarious. I really enjoyed this and it might have even been one of my favorite events going on at the expo.

Another really cool event was the Jedi obstacle course that took place, and it even had a Lando Calrissian in full cosplay with blaster and cape. He looked spot on. This was a great little course and the kids who ran the obstacles looked to have had a lot of fun, and after all, that’s what this is all about. Speaking of Star Wars, there was an awesome set up of some Star Wars props: a giant R2-D2, a landspeeder from the moon of Endor (which was amazing and I wanted to really wish it was real so I could have ridden it everywhere around the expo), and a life-size cockpit of the Millinium Falcon. WHICH WAS ALSO AWESOME. As a Star Wars fanboy (I have a Boba Fett and Darth Vader tattoo) I was geeking out pretty hard with all the awesome Star Wars props. Besides the things listed above, there were also some pretty cool Stormtrooper helmets, and a Star Wars Black Series life size box you could get your pictures taken in.

We may, or may not, have thought about stealing R2…

I really think that GMX is one of the coolest cons I have ever been too, and the fact that it’s a local con makes it even that more special and intimate. The community that was in attendance really made everything even more awesome. From the game rooms (video games and table top games) to the giant floor retail area (which didn’t allow alcohol in it, unfortunately). The retail section was a really cool and interesting lot. There seemed to be a little of everything. Long boxes full of comic books for a dollar, to T-Shirts that were a hybrid of The Misfits and comic books, still bummed I didn’t get one of those.

With all of this being said, GMX was one of the coolest local cons I have ever been too. It really had anything that a fellow nerd would want. From video games to comic books, and enthusiast would be in paradise here. The guest panels were truly on point with the two we were able to catch, one being with Greg Grunberg of Heroes and Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, and my favorite panel was with The Pirates of the Caribbean and Once Upon a Time star Lee Arenberg. He shared a few hilarious stories about Johnny Depp and some stunts that went terribly wrong on the Pirates set. It was also interesting hearing how much the technology in filming changed just between the first and third movies.

As I said above, this was a wonderful local con, and we had an amazing time. We hope to make a return next year, and we hope to see you there with us!

The main reason that FOX finally decided to pull the trigger on this is because of the Deadpool film test footage that was released to positive reaction from fans. If you haven’t seen it, here it is.

The last, and only other, time we saw Deadpool on screen was when he wasn’t really Deadpool at all. Ryan Reynolds played Wade Wilson in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine where (SPOILER ALERT! You know, in case you haven’t seen a movie that’s been out for 6 years…) he was thought by Logan to have been killed but ended up becoming the Weapon 11 of William Stryker’s Weapon X program. He is referred to as “Deadpool” in the film, but only in the sense that they “pooled” a bunch of other mutant’s abilities into him to give him the powers he has. Let me make this very clear to those of you who saw that film but do not know anything about the character’s comic book origins and legacy… THAT WAS NOT DEADPOOL. That was an abomination being passed off to us as Deadpool. Don’t get me wrong, I actually LOVE Ryan Reynolds as Wade. But then again, I love Ryan Reynolds in everything he does. I feel like he’s never the reason one of his movies is bad. Blade: Trinity, Green Lantern, R.I.P.D., the aforementioned X-Men Origins even… he’s still great in all of them, even if they are critically panned films. I genuinely hope that he comes back to the role because I cannot think of anyone who could do it better. (Also, my wife loves Ryan Reynolds, and since they’re scheduling this release 2 days before Valentine’s Day, I’m more likely to get to see it that weekend.)

But let’s talk about that release date I just parenthetically mentioned… Just because a date is set, and a screenwriter might be on board, and perhaps a director is attached, doesn’t mean a lot by Hollywood standards. There are still a million things that could go wrong. However, one thing I noticed, is that Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel Studios, is listed as a producer on the project. This is especially interesting since he hasn’t produced on an X-Men film since X-Men: The Last Stand, and he’s only been a producer on two non-Marvel-Studios Marvel films (2008’s Punisher: War Zone, which is massively underrated, and 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man) since the first Iron Man film came out in 2008. Feige’s involvement may reflect FOX’s desire to elevate their approach and execution to the comic-film genre. I will say, they have gotten much better with James Mangold’s The Wolverine in 2013, and this year’s X-Men: Days of Future Past. Hopefully they’re looking to bring in Feige because, while I have been critical of some of his decisions in the past, he’s done amazing work at Marvels Studios, helping evolve their format and structure.

The main thing that could hurt a Deadpool movie… is Deadpool. See, Deadpool always wears a mask. Like, ALWAYS. There are occasions where he takes is off, but it’s not pretty. For those of you who don’t know, this is what Wade Wilson really looks like…

See, when Wade was experimented on in the Weapon X program, he was dying of cancer, tumors specifically, and the “artificial” healing abilities he was given amplified the cancer and left him covered in very unsightly scar tissue. In the comics it literally makes people vomit.

So basically what you’re looking at having here, is a WHOLE movie of a guy in a mask, or a movie that is half a guy in a mask and half a guy with a face so gruesome that people can’t hardly look at him. All I’m saying is, they have to execute this the right way so that the Deadpool-uninitiated masses will want to watch it. I’ll see it no matter what it is, but some people are gonna need more convincing than others. But hey, a movie with a giant tree monster and a talking raccoon just became the biggest film of the year so I don’t think ANYTHING is impossible anymore.